Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Where do you start your letters




I filmed this while waiting at school drop-off.  Kylie sang it over and over (and over!!!) so I just grabbed my iPhone and shot it. Enjoy!

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Project Life Week 21

Project Life Week 21, page 1


Who knew a tent in the toy room would yeild so much fun?! Kylie has played in it constantly this week. She’s had puppet shows in the tent window and twice I’ve caught her asleep in the tent in morning. Such fun!

I knit Mom a poncho using Rosa’s Caponcho knit pattern and Classic Elite Yarns Ariosa. It was a lovely yarn to work with but not a very flattering pattern. I finished the poncho and stared at it a few days but I just wasn’t happy with the finished product. So I ripped it back to yarn. I scoured the internet and found a different pattern. I’m still determined to knit Mom a poncho for Christmas.

We are grateful the protected sea turtle nests have returned to our beaches.

I wrenched my left shoulder Sunday night playing "You can't tickle me-Yes I will tickle you" with Kylie. I was on my knees with my arms far behind me so when I started to fall, I couldn't catch myself and landed hard on my left shoulder, shoving it backwards. Ouch. I was grateful that I hadn’t dislocated it. I iced it Sunday night and Monday. By Tuesday, it was better.


Karen brought Kylie this wind-up frog & alligator when she returned from Texas. Kylie has played with them in her sink all week.

Kylie made this frame in aftercare. It is an acrylic frame decorated with buttons. It has a picture of Kylie holding a small seafan made of colored beans and seeds which she also made in aftercare. The back has her handprint. It was a sweet gift from her aftercare teachers Ms Diane & Ms Flavia.

Project Life Week 21, page 2

I saw these statues on one of my long runs. My usual route was diverted because of road construction. I knew as soon as I saw them that I wanted to show them to Kylie and have our picture made with them.

So that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Project Life Week 20

I didn't take many pictures week 20. And the pictures I did take tended to be subdued. When I first sat down on Saturday morning to put together my Project Life pages, I considered using a black, white and brown color scheme. But in the end, the pages ended up pretty colorful. You can click on the photos to view the credits.

Project Life Week 20 page 1

So Proud Journaling:
Story #1: Kylie told me that one of her school mates told her to “talk back and fight” to two girls who were saying mean things to her. Kylie said, “I didn’t take her lead. I took my own lead and walked away.”
Story #2: After swim class I noticed Kylie picking up and throwing away candy wrappers that were on the ground near the pool. When I commented on it Kylie said, “I was afraid those wrappers would get onto some plants and choke the plants. I have to protect the Earth.”

AM Routine Journaling:
Most mornings Kylie eats two blueberry waffles or two French toast sticks along with veggie sausage and blueberries or a banana. But sometimes she wants a simple bowl of cereal. Some mornings, between 6 and 7am, she gets her own bowl and pours in some Honeynut Cheerios. She will snack on the cereal until I pour in the milk. Most mornings she will stay in her nightgown until after breakfast. But some mornings, she will don one of her costumes. This morning’s costume was her soft purple unicorn blanket clipped into a cape. I love my mornings with you, my darling Kylie.

Running Journaling:
Karen and I both got new Mizuno running shoes this week. It seems that I don’t pronate as bad as I used to so now I need a shoe with less correction. My hope is that my new shoes will help with my right heel pain. Karen hit her four-mile running mark this week. I’m so very proud of her. I started reading “Train Like a Mother” and adopted their half-marathon “own it” plan. I took Kylie for the first time to the elementary school track and she rode her bike and ran and played while I circled the track for four miles. Karen and I started talking about me running the Disney Marathon again in January. I really hope to make that happen! I’m waiting to see how my feet hold up once I get to 27-30 miles per week before I commit to marathon training again.


Project Life Week 20 page 2

Blue card Journaling:
Kylie is doing so well with her reading. She is almost finished with her second set of Animal Antics books. She reads one every night. She has started sounding out the words in her head before reading them out loud. On Friday I was so pleased when I saw her grab her set of sight words flash cards and work through them while watching a show.

 LOL Journaling:
“Mommy, I laughed so hard at school that water came out my nose!” Kylie couldn’t remember what was so funny but we had a laugh over water coming out her nose. Who doesn’t remember doing that as a child? 

Our Deal Journaling:
Kylie was so excited to start swim lessons this month. We made a deal—if she listened to her coach and did what coach asked her to do without any goofing off, then we would have a day of fun at either Adventure Landing water park or at the ocean. And during her fun days, I agree not to coach her on swimming at all and she can play to her heart’s content. We went to the ocean on Saturday and Kylie had a blast body surfing the waves. As soon as she got out of the water, she got cold and curled up in the cutest little ball. Soon I had her dry and we spent the rest of our time building sand castles.


 Project Life Week 20 art insert front

Art Insert Front: I love this picture she drew of herself brushing giant teeth with her toothbrush. Cavity fighter!


 Project Life Week 20 art insert back

Art Insert Back: This was from a color-by-number set. This has been hanging in a window in the Florida room like a stained glass piece. The colors started to fade so I thought it was time to add it to the scrapbook.

So that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

There are some days...

When I just can't stop snapping pictures of her.


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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Project Life Week 19

Please bear with me while I try to catch up on all my scrapbooking. Yesterday I posted Week 17. There are a few good stories there that didn't make it to the blog that you might like to read.

Today I'm posting Week 19 of Project Life.  Week 18 was the week we went to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and I'm pleased that I finished those 22 Project Life pages last night. Whew!  If you would like to see these PL pages, you can click here and right click through them. If you want to see just the photos of our vacation, you can see Magic Kingdom here and Animal Kingdom here.

Even with all the time I've given scrapbooking the past two weeks, I still have to say that I love the Project Life system. I'm pleased to be caught up. Now on with Week 19! You can click on the photo to view the credits.

 Project Life Week 19, page 1

Journaling on this page.

Jump: Look at that jump off the diving platform! Kylie started swim lessons again at Planet Swim this week. She has a new coach--Jack, originally from Australia. Kylie swam beautifully!

Seriously? Uh-oh On Wednesday morning, my running Forerunner 205 wouldn’t start. In an act of desperation, I put my iPhone in my hydration belt. I mourned my Forerunner for the entire run. At the end of my run, I turned off my iPhone. But then it wouldn’t re-start. I freaked out. My iPhone & my Forerunner were broken?! Did my computer have some virus attacking my gadgets? Had I sent out some strange magnetic pulse that fried them both? I panicked at the thought of replacing both. Fortunately my Forerunner reset. But my iPhone was toast even though it hadn’t gotten wet or sweaty. So I got a new iPhone 4S. That is so not the way I like to make new technology purchases!

Glee: Sight Word Slap is a new fun card game we’ve taught Kylie. It has the added benefit of teaching her to recognize some words like come, blue, is, the and so forth without having to sound them out. She loves slapping the cards and winning!


 Project Life Week 19, page 2

I love how this second page came out! I think this week was one of my favorites.

Journaling on this page:

Thursday was the Mother’s Day Breakfast at Kylie’s school. Kylie had made two scrolls--one for me and one for Momma. The scrolls were questions the teacher had asked Kylie and Kylie’s responses. I’ve attached them here in the scrapbook and they are simply marvelous! Kylie also gave us a small glass bottle with two rolled-up pieces of paper. One said to Momma Karen: Thank you for replacing the batteries in my flashlight and playing flashlight games with me. The other said to Mommy: Thank you for taking me to the pool. Both of them were written in Kylie’s best handwriting. What a delightfully tender and sweet Mother’s Day gift!

After the breakfast I got to watch Kylie do some of her schoolwork. Here she is showing me the way she uses the stones to complete her addition sheet. The green stones are symbols. So here we have 1 + 5 =.   I’m also proud of how Kylie is corectly holding her pencil.

Summer Life: Lots of Summer moments this week. We bought a gas grill and had our first FL cookout. Kylie got her first sunburn on her cheeks and those cheeks peeled all week (filling me with guilt!) And Kylie had her first ocean swim of the season (slathered with sunscreen of course). Summer starts early here in Florida and we are loving it.

Here are the wonderful Mother's Day scrolls Kylie gave us. Project Life Week 19 mother's day scroll 2

Project Life Week 19 mother's day scroll 1

I also included this piece of artwork attached to a 12x12 piece of cardstock. This is new in Kylie's artwork--dresses! This picture is of Tinkerbell and her fairy friends. I'm tickled how Kylie drew triangle dresses and matching shoes.
Project Life Week 19 artwork

On the back, I attached this bit of schoolwork. These are five sentence strips Kylie made at school. So proud of the kiddo!

Project Life Week 19 schoolwork



So that's it for another week!
If you want to see other Project Life Projects, see
The Mom Creative

Monday, May 14, 2012

Project Life Week 17

Project Life Week 17, page 1

Journaling:
On Sunday, we made our froggy cupcakes. They don't look much like the ones in the cookbook but I have to admit they have some ugly charm. For me, the best part of making them was watching the sweet tea and cupcake party Kylie had with her doll.

Ladybug release- Earth day Saturday was Kylie's school Earth Day celebration. Kylie made a crafty fish, a necklace and a potted plant while hanging out with her school buddies in the school's soccer field. Her favorite part was the ladybug release. She would catch a ladybug and then take it to the nearby flower garden. Last year her school did the same for the ladybugs and Kylie didn't want any part of it. This year, she enjoyed helping the ladybugs to their new home.

Planted: I planted pink vinca flowers in the front yard flower bed along the sidewalk. And I added fresh mulch to the beds. The front yards looks so much better.

Adventure journaling: Kylie was sent home from school with a note on Monday detailing how she had bitten one of her friends. It was unprovoked and it completely shocked me and Karen. Kylie cried her eyes out as we had a very serious talk with her and provided her first real punishment of no tv or phone games for the rest of the Monday and all of Tuesday. Then, on Friday, we learned from her teacher that she had snuck candy into her lunch box and was handing it out under the table to her friends. Again we had to punish Kylie with taking away all her candy and not letting her have dessert on Friday or Saturday. Seems like turning five has pushed some button in Kylie that is making her test all of her boundaries. Our parents reassure us that this is just what kids do but honestly, it has had our heads spinning.

  Project Life Week 17, page 2


Journaling: Jumping for joy over our new bird feeder.

This week we added the following birds to Kylie's bird life list: Eastern Bluebird, Blue Jay, Blue Grosbeak, Cowbirds and Pileated Woodpecker.

This week Kylie tried three new works at school: 1) Four letter word building box with words like flag, sled, clip, stamp and clock. 2) Earth's continents puzzle and 3) the triangle box. Way to go Kylie!


Some of the work Kylie has brought home from school. Project Life Week 17, insert1


Project Life Week 17, insert2


Project Life Week 17, insert3


Project Life Week 17, insert4

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Back from Disney

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Sorry it has been so quiet here on the blog. We took a trip to Disney last week. On Monday 4/30, we went to Magic Kingdom, Tuesday 5/1 we went to Animal Kingdom and Wednesday 5/2 we went to Downtown Disney.

We got incredibly lucky both days on both parks. We were able to see and ride far more than we thought we would. It was an exciting family trip full of wonderful memories.

I had clicked over 700 photos during our time in Orlando. And I've been trying to sneak in time to tweak some of those photos and work on Project Life pages for the trip. Our Magic Kingdom photos (and a few stories) can be found here.

Back on the home front, Kylie had her first swim lesson of the Summer.

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She has a new coach--Jack who is originally from Australia. I was secretly delighted to hear his accent every time he said, "All right Kylie; your turn".

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Kylie had a great class. She remember a lot of the freestyle skills she learned last year.

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And she jumped from the diving platform for the first time. Way to go Kylie!

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